in that sense i think he is like other great second-term presidents like ronald reagan, bill clinton. when he gets out there and makes his case in the country, that reverberates back in the capital. i think it's the best way for him to move these members of congress. >> erick, the main people he has to talk to here quite frankly are congressional republicans. are they somehow going to be swayed after this last election that the president's got the right idea all of a sudden? it doesn't sound right. >> no, i don't think so. and to paul's point interestingly enough, i was struck during the debt ceiling debate that every time the president spoke inside washington or the white house, his poll numbers went down. when he got out of washington and went out into the crowd, his poll numbers would go up saying basically the same thing. so i do think it works for him with the crowd and with the public. but i'm not sure it's going to work with congressional republicans. >> erick, i have to ask you while we have you up there and you knew this was going to come up. there's been some talk about you